Volkswagen has opened a data center in Rjukan, Norway, that will be 100 percent powered by hydropower – resulting in a savings of more than 5800 tons of CO2 per year compared to a conventionally operated data center.
The Volkswagen Group moved into the new climate neutral data center earlier this month. The facility was set up in just six months in collaboration with the Norwegian partner Green Mountain.
“We support digitalization in all areas of the Volkswagen Group. With new technologies and digital forms of cooperation, there is a growing need for computing power in the company. As a result, we are constantly expanding our capacities,” said Mario Müller, Head of IT Integration and Services at the Volkswagen Group. “For us, economic factors and sustainability in the company are important aspects. The new data center in Norway satisfies in both respects. The operation is cost-effective and completely climate neutral.”
In future, the computing power of the new location will be used by the Volkswagen Passenger Cars and Audi brands for their vehicle development projects. These include simulations of crash tests and virtual wind tunnel tests. Such calculations are not time critical, but very complex and energy intensive. Outsourcing them to external data centers hugely relieves the IT infrastructure at domestic locations.
The Volkswagen Group already operates a carbon neutral data center in Iceland.
